Valley Tech to rescind request

Tuesday

Mar 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

In politics, as in comedy, timing is everything.

Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School is backpedaling on its March 7 request to its 13 member towns that they place on their town meeting warrants a $2.9 million debt package for the school’s renovation and expansion.

Now the school intends to delay the vote for two more years. The decision does not change the start date of the project, which all along was scheduled to begin in fiscal 2016.

Boards of selectmen voting on their town meeting warrants were caught off guard by the original Valley Tech request. Some boards, such as in Uxbridge, voted not to place a debt article on the warrant because town officials didn’t know anything about it. Douglas selectmen voted to put it on the warrant so voters could voice their opinion.

The confusion and logistical concerns prompted Valley Tech Superintendent-Director Michael F. Fitzpatrick to send a memo this week to the regional school committee asking it to rescind its debt vote at its April 4 meeting.

He said any town that has already included the debt article on its town meeting warrant should pass over that article.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said that when the regional district was presenting its fiscal 2013 budget a year ago, town finance committees asked it to consider adding career programs for which the towns were paying $15,000 to $16,000 or more per student to send elsewhere.

Out-of-district tuition for programs not offered at Valley Tech can be as much as $22,924, in the case of Norfolk County Agricultural High School.

Milford currently pays for 10 students to go out of district, Uxbridge pays for eight and Blackstone and Northbridge each pay for seven students, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The data don’t identify where the students go.

The school also sought to renovate space and construct additional classrooms and laboratories to meet growing demand. Valley Tech, which has 1,175 students in Grades 9 through 12, received more than 780 applications for enrollment in next year’s freshman class.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said that while it was too late last year to incorporate the proposed expansion in the fiscal 2013 budget, “We made a commitment we would not forget the special request.” The fiscal 2013 budget runs out June 30.

The $2.9 million proposal, developed as the School Committee looked at the fiscal 2014 budget, would not have a debt impact on member towns until 2016, Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

The debt would be prorated based on each town’s student enrollment. So, for example, Hopedale would pay an additional annual debt assessment of around $4,300 starting in 2016, while Uxbridge would pay more than $30,000.

Approval by nine of the 13 towns would be required for the proposal to pass.

After the debt proposal went out two weeks ago, several town managers contacted Mr. Fitzpatrick to discuss the proposal’s timing. Because of town meeting schedules, a board that wanted the proposed article on the warrant might have to schedule a special town meeting to take action within 60 days.

“If a community fails to take action in any way for 60 days, it constitutes a ‘yes’ vote by default,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

“I responded in writing that it was never intended for towns not to have the opportunity to respond or set up a special town meeting,” he said.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said the proposal would be presented again in plenty of time for towns to discuss it before voting on it in the spring of 2015.

“I have already received several thank-yous from town managers appreciating the flexibility,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said. “As a 13-member family, we just wanted to be a flexible partner.”

Millbury Town Manager Robert J. Spain Jr. said the Board of Selectmen was scheduled to vote on placing the proposal on the town meeting warrant Thursday night, but it was retracted before the board addressed it.

Mr. Spain said the debt-proposal misstep was unlike usual communication from Valley Tech. But now, the issue has gotten people’s attention.

Contact Susan Spencer at susan.spencer@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanSpencerTG.

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